NOTES for Deu 9:6

When reading the Bible, it is not hard to see that the whole history of God's relationship with His people is full of contradictions. On the one hand, there is the covenant-union, the giving of the Torah, the promises made long ago to Abraham and fulfilled by God in all the fullness possible for our world. On the other hand, there is apostasy, spiritual falls, the violation of the commandments given by God, without observance of which the covenant-union loses all meaning. But God does not abandon His people even when the people turn their back on Him.

Why is that so? Out of pity? Or in the hope that the next attempt will be more successful than the previous one? Hardly: God knows His people as a whole and each person individually; He sees what each is capable of and understands that indulgence toward human sinfulness will not help in the struggle against sin. To Him, as to no one else, it is clear that the people will not become different until He Himself remakes them. And yet God remains faithful to the union once concluded. What, then, makes Him keep faith with those who often think of faithfulness last of all? Only one thing is clear: love for those whom He once chose, whom He raised from a tribe into a people, to whom He gave the land promised long ago to Abraham. Otherwise what is happening cannot be explained.

And the same love, perhaps, makes God unwilling to exclude His people from the plan of which, by His election, they once became a part. That is apparently why He often carries out His design not thanks to, but in spite of, the spiritual and moral qualities and efforts of His people. So that He may still save everyone who can be saved.